The development of high-tech materials and new materials has a significant importance as it forms the basis of industry and science and technology in a wide variety of fields such as electronics, environment energy, and biotechnology. In recent years, the development of nano-scale substances has drawn many interests since they possess totally novel properties and functions not found in bulk substances.
Carbon nanotubes are an example of such a nano-scale substance. Carbon nanotubes have a tube-like structure made out of a graphite sheet. There are two types of carbon nanotubes: single-walled nanotubes and multi-walled nanotubes, depending on whether the tube is single-walled or multi-walled. The electrical properties of the carbon nanotube are unique in the sense that the nanotube can be a metal or a semiconductor depending on its chirality.
Referring to FIG. 2, the following describes chirality of the carbon nanotube. As illustrated in FIG. 2, carbon nanotubes have different chiralities depending on the way the graphite sheets are wound. Carbon nanotubes of differing chirality have different densities of states (electronic states).
As described above, the chirality of carbon nanotubes varies, and as such a synthesis of carbon nanotubes produces structures of differing chiralities and differing electronic states.
Thus, if the carbon nanotubes were to be used for industrial, manufacturing, and academic purposes, a carbon nanotube of a specific structure would be needed depending on use. Accordingly, there is a demand for a method of selectively obtaining carbon nanotubes of the same structure from different structures of carbon nanotubes.
However, to this date, there has been no method that selectively obtains or removes carbon nanotubes of a specific structure from carbon nanotubes having different electronic states.
The present invention was made in view of the foregoing problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling a nano-scale low-dimensional quantum structure, whereby a low-dimensional quantum structure of a specific density of state is selectively oxidized from a mixture of low-dimensional quantum structures. The invention also provides a method for producing a nano-scale low-dimensional quantum structure using such a structure control method.